It is her first press clipping, of sorts, and Cat Thomson is more than proud to unfold it at this current interview.

“It’s funny reading this now,” she says, sitting in a northwest coffee shop, “and going back and seeing how much has changed and hasn’t changed.”

Actually, yeah, it kind of is.

Especially since the article in question is from a dozen years ago and it was actually proclaiming the then-17-year-old Calgary Academy student as one of the Calgary Herald’s Class Acts of 2002.

Among descriptions of her as “mature,” “poised” and “athletic” are a couple of even more relevant passages, one that states she plans to pursue music in the future and a second one that states her dream and career goal is to own her own business some day.

“I kind of do,” she says smiling. “I own my own company now.”

That she does: Cat Thomson, singer-songwriter. And stock in that company is on the rise.

The now Vancouver-based artist is set for the summer release of her debut on 604 Records, the West Coast label founded by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and lawyer Jonathan Simkin, and home to such acts as Dallas Smith, Carly Rae Jepsen and Marianas Trench.

Tuesday night at the National Music Centre, Thomson will offer fans in her hometown a sneak preview of that record and show just how far she’s come since that original shot of publicity.

At that point, she was a seasoned Kiwanis Music Festival participant and gold medal winner, specializing in the classical and operatic form of the discipline. They were gifts that would also win her something a little less prestigious but even more fortuitous.

While attending college out east in 2005, she joined her family on a cruise and wound up participating in a passenger talent contest.

“I was so sick,” she says. “I was super seasick. I ended up going in it trying to get my mind off of throwing up all the time.

“And I won. I sang a song that I’d sung in the Kiwanis Festival.

A couple in attendance who were impressed by her vocal prowess also had ties to Louisiana State University, arranging for her fly down and audition in front of the faculty — who offered her a full-ride scholarship in opera training on the spot, which she gladly accepted for five years.

But while that instruction and education certainly came in handy, her real love and the one she eventually chose to pursue turned out to be more contemporary style, one that was informed by such artists that she listened to back in those Class Act days, such as Elton John, Tori Amos and Fiona Apple.

So, after a brief return home, she decided throw herself entirely into her craft and moved to B.C. where there was, she thought, more of an industry and infrastructure.

It was a mere three months after her relocation when she, attempting to immerse herself in the scene and build up her contacts, started following Simkin on Twitter. Almost immediately after, she received a direct message from the lawyer, who’d checked out Thomson’s YouTube site and was immediately wooed by her cover of a Marianas Trench song. He wanted to hear more.

“It was crazy. It was one of those flukes that just happened ... ,” she says and laughs. “People always say I have horseshoes up my a--.”

She also happens to have the talent to back it up. Which is why, soon after that, 604 signed her to a development deal, and began working with her on her debut, teaming her with producers, Steve Bays, from Hot Hot Heat, and Colin Janz, those who could help her shine.

That she does on the full-length, which very much does come off like a cross between all of those influences, a keyboard-heavy, dramatic pop record, with Thomson’s bright vox cloudbusting through even the darkest and more emotional of the 13 tracks.

“When people meet me they say, ‘You’re such a happy go-lucky kind of person that’s fun to be around.’ But when you hear some of the songs,” she says and pauses. “Jonathan said to me once, ‘What happened to you in your life? You write these sad emotional songs.’

“But I think sometimes the subconscious holds onto things, whether it be past relationships or issues with family or friends. I can’t talk about them in person, and I don’t want to, but I think subconsciously it’s always there. It’s word vomit, it just comes up when I’m writing.”

While the album was completed almost six months ago, it now awaits the usual industry prepping and positioning that goes into a fresh and first-time act, including the dropping late last year of the jaunty single Sticks & Stones to test how college radio and, now, the commercial market would react.

That said, the artist supports everything the record company is doing is to ensure the success of her own company, Cat Thomson — to make sure it’s represented the way she wants and needs it to be.

It’s here that she points again to that unfolded piece of press sitting on the table, noting how much has changed but how much is still the same.

“I think even that kid would have stood up for herself,” she says and laughs again. “She’s been pretty independent for a long time.”

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